Tax sleuths have sent intimation notices to about 22,000 taxpayers for the assessment year 2023-24, including salaried individuals, HNIs, trusts, and Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) because of discrepancies between the deductions claimed in their tax returns and the information provided in their Form 16 or Annual Information Statement (AIS).

The income-tax (I-T) department has issued intimation notices to approximately 22,000 taxpayers, including salaried individuals, high net worth individuals, trusts, and Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) regarding discrepancies between the deductions claimed in their tax returns and the information provided in their Form 16 or Annual Information Statement (AIS), or the data available with the Income Tax Department, a newspaper report has said.

These intimation notices pertain to the tax returns filed for the assessment year (AY) 2023-24, and all of them were dispatched within the past 15 days.

Around 12,000 of these notices were sent to salaried taxpayers, where the variance between the tax deductions claimed in their returns and the department’s records exceeded Rs 50,000, the Economic Times reported.

Discrepancies

Additionally, intimation notices were sent to nearly 8,000 taxpayers who filed tax returns under the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) status, where the income disparity between their returns and the data held by the IT department was more than Rs 50 lakh. For 900 high net worth individuals (HNIs), the disparity was Rs 5 crore and above, and for 1,200 trusts and partnership firms, the disparity exceeded Rs 10 crore. These notices serve to address and rectify discrepancies in the tax declarations of these taxpayers, the report said.

In a broader context, the primary data analytics has identified irregularities and discrepancies in the tax returns of about 2 lakh taxpayers. These discrepancies primarily relate to inconsistencies between the income declarations, expenditure, or bank account details provided in their tax returns and the data collected by the IT department, which is based on transactions linked to their bank or UPI accounts. This data analysis is a part of the department's efforts to ensure tax compliance and accuracy in financial reporting.

Options available

“This is the first intimation notice. Only if taxpayers do not respond to it or fail to provide any clarification, a demand notice would be processed,” an income tax department official told the financial daily.

Taxpayers who received notices regarding discrepancies in their tax returns have a few options for resolving the issue, including paying the outstanding tax along with any applicable interest by filing an updated and corrected tax return.

Alternatively, they can provide a detailed explanation for the discrepancies.

Source: https://shorturl.at/cikns